This blowtorching was taking too long. He hitched himself forward, squinting down at the nearest imbecile who had almost burned off his gloved thumb in his nervous haste to get the job done too quickly. Who knew when Zikri would slither out of the murk like serpents...
“Ramp it up!” he yelled. He drew back in dismay. “Shit, there they are now!” Above the Zikri shapes swooped the dragonfly, whizzing out of the dim corridor like some mutant wasp.
The sounds of the lightfighter’s whirring engine filled his earpiece. Regers jerked to action, the pilot lights flashing green on the transom. He made for the hatch, catching a dark glimpse of Deakes and Vincent through the thick glass fiddling with the light drive controls on the bridge.
Creib melted the last of the chains and he, the Jakru and a black-bearded man clambered aboard, securing the hatch tightly behind them.
Regers stepped over the dried blood staining the floor of the bridge, likely the aftermath of an uncooperative crewmember under Zikri assault. Jennings scanned diagnostics while Vincent and Deakes toiled at the control console. They guided the ship toward the Zikri tractor pad and the jagged hole of shredded metal in the Orb’s side, which Regers saw the squids had still not repaired.
A murky twilight bathed the bleak landscape in an otherworldly hue. Stars glinted in the alien sky.
Regers reeled as the dragonfly smashed its iron-hard, bullet head against the glass. “Warp out of here, Deakes. I’m sick of this fucking place.”
Another jarring blow hit their moving ship broadside, strong enough to take them slightly off their course. Regers shuddered. “Get this shitbox out of here!”
Creib started forward, his muscles tensed. “We’ll burn up, Regers, initiating light drive so close to a significant gravitational field like this moon. It’s too risky.”
Jennings concurred. “She can ride rough on impulse power with her rear stabilizer blown, but better not risk sudden warp in high grav.”
“Quit squawking, you chicken shits,” muttered Regers. “A little risk isn’t going to kill us at this point in time. Besides, Shredder is looking a little pissed right now.”
Deakes and Vincent grinned and continued flicking dials on the upper consoles, as if to start up the warp sequence.
Regers muttered, “Better too, than facing a squid ambush in the air.”
Creib shook his head. “It’s foolish. Warp sequence magnifies gravitational pressure on the hull. Superstructure overload will likely crumple it. It’s common knowledge. All ship manufacturers caution against it.” Shredder smashed its head against the glass again, and the ship shuddered.
“Well, well, my foolishness then,” said Regers with a mock trembling hand covering his mouth. “I should check with Captain Kirk on this one. What do you say, Vincent? Captain Kirk, okay with it?”
“Captain Kirk is okay with it.”
“Then—!”
A blip came over the digital viewer and a yellow light flashed on the 3D hologram, cutting Regers off in mid-sentence.
Jennings pointed to the image on the viewport with a creased brow. “Looks like we’re in for some more heat, Regers.”
Regers mouthed a curse, gaping at the massive, spiked hull hurtling toward them. “Fucking squids. Can’t believe it. Just our bad luck.”
Vincent growled, “One of them must have radioed ahead before we could cut it down.”
“More than likely. Man the weapons! Jenner, make yourself useful. We’re in for a dogfight.”
Ramra gazed at him incredulously “Why not warp out of here, Regers, like you were going to do?”
“Well, Creib here, thinks it’s a ‘gravitational risk’. ‘Can cause severe stresses to hull superstructure, against regulation code’, all that shit.”
“Well, it’s true,” defended Creib.
Ramra threw his hands in the air. “You’re all going to get us killed!”
Deakes shrugged, as if it were all one to him. “Death is death.”
“Get those shields up!” Jennings croaked.
Deakes looked at him as if he were a genius. “Uh, why didn’t I think of that?”
Regers laughed. “You boys are larks.” His smile faded when Shredder veered in for another assault.
Ramra reached down to scratch furiously at his right leg, sweat pooling on his throat. His suit lining was frayed where he itched and rubbed. “I say we nuke them all, the bug too.”
“Yeah, I appreciate your input,” said Regers. “But it’s a dumb plan. As Creib said, the flux generated by a large gravitational body or for that matter, any large weapon, will convolute our warp exit... We can’t fire and enter light drive at the same time.”
Uro bombs came pounding at the stern against the Xaromar’s shields; more star pricks of orange fire glinted from the Orb’s looming cannon.
“Guess it won’t matter now,” grumbled Regers. “Fire on those damn squids!”
Both Jennings and Deakes plied the weapons controls. Flaring photons torpedoed out of the lightfighter’s twin cannon to smash against the prickly hull.
The Orb easily absorbed the shock with its shields and manoeuvred to launch more bombs.
“Fuck it!” Regers hit the warp activation switch.
The hull creaked. The torturous groan of a thousand metal plates racked the air as a suspension bridge would under hurricane forces. All eyes peered up at the panelled ceiling. Infathomable tidal stresses bulged the metal which was threatening to cave in on them. The cabin went dark.
Regers felt as if time had gone still. Which it effectively had. There was a flash of yellow light. A soundless, hair-splitting moment passed
